Ten years ago I was sitting in an auditorium watching a group of students practice a dance routine for a talent show. One of the students was an openly gay 17- year-old boy. He was a great kid and good dancer. Sitting next to me was another teacher who loved this student. She leaned in at one point and quietly said, “Damn we’ve got to get him out of the state of Maine before he ends up dead.”

I was shocked. I was new to the job, and had no idea how true her comment was. Mathew Sheppard had just been tortured to death in Colorado and she feared for this child in Maine. She was right to be afraid.

Ten years have come and gone. Times have changed. Tuesday, 48 percent of one of the whitest states in the union voted to support civil rights for all. It wouldn’t have happened 10 years ago. I still fear for young gay people in this state but I think times are changing.

And even though the vote on Tuesday made me sad as a mother and as a citizen, I can remember when African Americans fought for civil rights and won a just battle; it will happen again here. In the 60s civil rights did not depend upon a referendum vote. If they did, then separate but equal would still probably be the law of the land.

Please don’t tell me that your “yes” vote on Tuesday wasn’t personal. It is very personal. You chose to insert your religious beliefs into the law and I take that very personally. If marriage didn’t evolve, then women would still be considered the property of their husband.

Times are changing; you are showing your age if you don’t see it coming.
Rita Wakefield is a resident of
Carrabassett Valley